Insights

It has been more than 3 years since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became applicable in the European Union. The Regulation has significantly increased the requirements for organizations processing personal data – controllers and processors, while also introducing high sanctions, with maximum amounts reaching millions of euros. Although a number of organizations have invested significant resources in bringing their data processing processes in line with the new requirements, there are still many violations of these rules. This analysis aims to systematize the most common violations of the data protection rules and to propose means of avoiding them.

In his article for the eighth issue of the European Audiovisual Observatory Newsletter Nikola Stoychev, actively assisted by Christian Ivanov, provides a brief account of the CEM report on the parliamentary vote on 11 July 2021, which presets the data and findings based on the specialised monitoring process of the activity of media service providers during the pre-election campaign. *This publication is also available in German and French.

Senior Associate Nikola Stoychev, assisted by Associate Christian Ivanov, gives a brief state-of-art review of the transposition of EU Directive 2019/789 and Directive 2019/790 in Bulgarian legislation. *This publication is also available in German and French.

The dynamics of modern public relations and the development of information and communication technologies determine the progressively increasing use of video surveillance in everyday life. Many public agencies and private organizations implement video surveillance systems for various purposes – protection of property, protection of life and health of their employees and visitors, access control, control of labor discipline, and the like. And while video surveillance is becoming more accessible from a technological, logistical and economic point of view, it is not that easy to answer the questions of how lawful and proportionate its use is in the light of European and national rules for the protection of personal data and for ensuring the privacy of the individual. This paper aims to analyze some of the most important aspects of the personal data protection regime applicable to video surveillance, such as possible legal grounds for video surveillance; ensuring the principle of transparency and informing the monitored persons about the video surveillance; admissibility of facial recognition as a form of processing of a special category of data, such as biometric data, and other specific obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Personal Data Protection Act related to video surveillance. The above issues are analyzed in the light of European and national practice in the application of personal data protection rules.

For a second year in a row DPC arbitration experts have been invited as contributors to the Austrian Yearbook on International Arbitration. Pencho Stanchev and Martin Zahariev, PhD worked on the Bulgarian part to the chapter Jurisdictional Issues and Arbitration - An International Comparison of the Austrian Yearbook on International Arbitration 2021 with authors Gerold Zeiler and Andrijana Misovic.